[T]he idea that religion has re-emerged in public life is to some extent an illusion. It never really went away—certainly not to the extent that French politicians and American college professors imagined. Its new power is mostly the consequence of two changes. The first is the failure of secular creeds: religion's political comeback started during the 1970s, when faith in government everywhere was crumbling. Second, although some theocracies survive in the Islamic world, religion has returned to the stage as a much more democratic, individualistic affair: a bottom-up marketing success, surprisingly in tune with globalisation. Secularism was not as modern as many intellectuals imagined, but pluralism is.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
QOTD
From the November 3-9th Economist:
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2 comments:
Does anyone else remember the Jesus freaks of the 70's? At the same time that drug use exploded, religion expanded (in this country at least).
Religion wasn't less of a part of public life when I was a kid. This is just a fashionable meme thought up by hysterical Marxist-feminists.
Yes, but unfortunatly, we are still living the lie. There is no god, yet we live with all the controls religion has forced on us. We will not advance beyond our childhood until we can free ourselves of these myths.
Our need for a supernatural daddy in the sky, to tell us what to do and to protect us from death is our last great addiction.
Time to grow up and stop fearing the darkness.
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